The Princess Recalls Her One Adventure
by Gyousei
Summary: An unforunate Princess in an arranged marraige to a creep, now a runaway, searches for escape and a chance at happiness, can she be saved from her fate or does destiny just wish for her to suffer? MF,AU
1. Runaway

InuYasha is copyrighted to Rumiko Takahashi. (a.k.a "The Princess of manga")

"The Princess Recalls Her One Adventure" - poem by Edna St Vincent Millay.

Disclaimer for entire story!

I sat there on a rock crying and trembling violently from the cold pre-dawn air. My cloak was splashed with mud and water, so it had lost most of its effectiveness in keeping in my body heat, my fault for falling I suppose.

I'm a runaway, a coward too, but if it had happened to you, you probably would have done the same. Maybe not...

My mother and the King had informed me of my upcoming marriage only a few hours previous. I was to be sold off to the creepiest, slimiest and most detestable creature on the earth.

One look from this man would have you wishing for a bath in mucus and worms instead, it was so unbearably filthy.

I was always afraid of him, from the very first time I had seen him as a little girl. Back then he was a teenager, and he only glanced down on me like a petty insect, now he stared at me with lust.

Disgusting.

I would rather give my maidenhood to any other creature but him, no matter how foul. Well maybe I would kill myself before it got to that stage...

But as a second daughter, and middle child, I was the least important of the three royal children. My elder sister, had already been married off two years ago, with her consent I might add. She now lives in some far off castle on the other side of the continent.

My younger brother is heir to the throne. As soon as they discovered he had an extra winkie at birth, Kikyo was disregarded completely, if she was bitter, I never noticed, but she's a Queen now so I guess she's not plotting revenge. Secretly though I think she kind of prefers her new land and people to ours. Her frequent letters have convinced me that she delights in her people and that she loves her King more than anything else.

My last letter to her, I told her that I wish for her, her husband and her unborn child's happiness. Kikyo rarely smiles, but for one that knows her well, you could tell if she was happy by the presence of a certain twinkle in her dark brown eyes.

She is one of only two people I have told of my decision besides my Nurse, knowing both, I shall say that they support me fully in this. The thoughts of my dear sister and even dearer Nurse are enough to drive away the cold for even a few moments.

I can see the castle peeking through the crevice of the heavily forested hills. If only I could make a foul hand gesture at the senile old fool sitting on the throne that did this to me and be certain he could see me...

To think I actually loved him until the horrid moment, when he smiled at me like he had the best news in the world:

Flashback-

"Kagome?"

"Yes Grandfather?"

"You are to be married my dear!"

"Oh, to whom may I enquire?"

"King Naraku of Cocytus"

"WHAT!" I yelled indignantly.

He sent me a gentle smile.

"Naraku, Kagome! You're going to be his Queen!"

I fainted.

My Grandfather turned to my mother and said,

"Well look at that! She's so happy about this! Do you think maybe we should move the wedding date up?"

End flashback-

Apparently my mother shook her head and said that perhaps I was unwell and the suddenness of my engagement just made me collapse. Unfortunately for me, most of the court believed it. Yuka, a Lady of the court and also my "friend" told me of that.

The icky feeling I got from thinking of Naraku did nothing but help me feel the bitter chill more. It had started to rain. Thankfully, only a slight drizzle.

With a shudder I stood up and looked about for my cob, I had snuck him from the stable yard. The sun had just peeked over the bumpy horizon and I could see my cob limping a distance away. He was no use to me anymore. I had taken my small bag of belongings from my cob after my fall. Why was I too stupid to pack a blanket? In my haste, I only brought what was precious, not practical.

Stupid cross-stitch! That was neither! I threw it to the dirt and stamped on it several times venting my frustration.

It was time to be on my way again. I started out on the wide dust road that ran along the lake now glittering in the morning sun, unsure of my destination or destiny for that matter. But one isn't supposed to know their destiny are they? Great! I had something to philosiphise. Even said in my head I could not figure out if I was being sarcastic or not. Was philosiphise even a word?

Pathetic.

The sun had crested a small bit more over the horizon.

After the first few peasants had passed me in their ragged and dreary clothes on their way to the castle, I began to wish I had stolen a maid's gown. They were looking at me funny. I was bound to be noticed in this dress I suppose. No-one but the elite upper-class would have a dress like this. To believe I had actually thought it was plain enough to fit in with the lace! Stupid Kagome!

A whinny and a "whoo boy!" in a cold masculine voice brought me back to my senses. I looked up and straight into his eyes, in direct defiance of laws form every class. His penetrating glare made my blood run cold as I just stood there and gaped.

Cob horse of a type, kinda. Pony/Horse mix.

A/N Thanks for reading this far! And I shall update soon! Please review if you can!

- Gyousei

Revised 1/1/05, oh the errors…..


	2. Southward Bound

Disclaimer: -- chapter 1.

Indicates Kagome's comments on her thoughts

I looked up and straight into his eyes in direct defiance of all laws from every class. His penetrating glare made my blood run cold as I stood there and gaped -

He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen and I just stood there and gawked! He had long black hair swaying around him from a tie on the back of his neck. It framed his face, his oh so pretty face!

Then I noticed on his right cheek two small slashes near his ear. Oh no! A mark on perfection. Gasp! There was another on his forehead! My hands went up to my mouth in horror, I was so upset, how could one damage perfection like this! The mark on his forehead was almost like a "C" I noticed, but not quite.

A shine caught my gaze, I was a magpie in a past life and I noticed just what a big sword he had. Must push back naughty thoughts I bet he had a nice body to match! I stomped down on my creeping thoughts. They were for dreams. Night time. I looked back up into his eyes and flinched at his icy glare. Being the idiot I am, I didn't look down or even step out of the way. In fact, I took a few steps forward!

His eyes.

They were so different, over-powering, completely mesmerising. I had never seen such a shade of deep violet in a persons eyes before. They were surrounded by long black lashes that would have any girl screaming! And his skin was clear, in a tone almost porcelain, his hair, as dark as the darkest night of the new moon. Maybe I should become a poet... ACK! He was beginning to look angry. The men I only just now noticed surrounding him, were taking steps back...

This can not be good...

"Girl", he said.

His voice was rich and oh so pleasing... KAGOME! your about to be killed, or even worse, dragged home! FOCUS!

"...girl, what are you doing?" I could feel his impatience rolling off in waves...

"Err...n-nu- nothing Sir..." I was stuttering. Bad. Very bad.

"Yes girl you are doing something, would you like to know what?" his malicious smirk and patronising voice, were enough to make me pee right there, but my fear was forgotten as I started to stare at his lips, very kissable... FOCUS!

I snapped back to reality and nodded, way too vigorously.

"You are in my way wench! Move it!" he roared. Hmmmm, his voice went gravely under strain...

I squealed and ran through the line of men on horses behind him. They had swords! They were big and probably very sharp! I kept running. I heard hoof steps behind me and I stopped, no use running if my head was about to roll... The steps muted and against my better judgement I turned around. It was him. Thankfully my eyes had the sense to not roam all over his stunning features. Again.

He was looking at me like I was a horse in a mart, sizing me up. Should I flirt? Bad Kagome! you want to live remember? Anyway a man like him probably has a new girl warming his bed every night, not that I wouldn't mind being one of them... or better yet, a wife. And she'd be the most perfect woman in the realm. Wait. Kikyo was already married... I sighed. It wasn't her husband in front of me at least, I had seen him briefly once, but he wasn't this gorgeous. I mentally slapped myself; I can never seem to stay on track.

"Umm ... may I help you Sire?" I curtseyed hoping I wasn't shaking enough to fall over...

"From whom did you steal the dress girl?"

"Uh..." I though about this a bit, I'm not very good at quick, believable lies...

"...I, I , I didn't steal it, I go, got it from, err, the Lady Princess Kagome...?" Such a stupid answer! He had to believe that! Not too shabby for me at least.

Would he buy it though? Why does he want to know anyway?

"Why would the Princess give you a dress like that girl?"

"...umm... it has…. really bad stitch?" I'm getting better at this. The dress actually had quite a nice one stay on course Kag, you don't want to die

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, umm, she got it from a new dress making shop in, uh, town, and I kinda gushed on how nice the fabric was, I was ,uh, the maid that brought it to her, yeah... But as I said the stitch is awful, and, and..."

He was just staring at me. Eyebrow quirked. He's actually more scary than I had first imagined. He rolled his eyes to the heavens.

"I highly doubt that girl. But in future, stay out of the way of my horse, or I might just suddenly remember you and the dress you stole."

I was about to protest my honesty, but as the meaning of his words dawned on me, I realised I was going to live. I was about to thank him, for what, who knows... but as I looked up to him, all I saw was a cloud of dust and heard the galloping of hooves.

Swiping at the dust around me, while trying to cough up a lung. I headed down the winding road towards the town. Small fancies of the handsome rider made their way to my minds eye, only he was a lot nicer in my head... My daydreaming took my vision off the road below me, and low and behold, I stepped in a nice muddy puddle. My slippers were soaked right through.

…ah!

Now I understand the concept of leather boots...

Sigh.

Sometime after mid-day I arrived at the town and my poor feet were wrecked. It was our capital but not the largest city. The cities down south where much larger as they were ports and the main trade areas in our Kingdom. I had never been down there, and I would so love to see the sea! Would it be as nice as my lake?

The town was crowded with markets and people were everywhere, doing everything, traders selling foreign items, musicians playing, magicians performing tricks to small crowds of children, I smiled, I never got to experience these things since I was always stuck in the carriage.

I passed a small dress shop, stopped, back tracked and entered. It looked fairly reasonable. Nothing compared to the designs of the royal dressmaker though, but it would do.

It was a medium sized store I supposed, I had never been in other stores in order to compare it, but it was nice, wood furnished, small desks with assorted accessories arranged upon them, and manikins placed everywhere, at random it seemed, and bolts of fabric lining down two side walls. There were some small paintings, oil and water based on free areas of the wall, telling me that the shop was doing well for business.

The Lady behind the counter looked up as the bell rang with the opening door, and her wide smile faltered as she took in my dust stained state. I'd say she was near her 40's and she was chubby with curly tendrils of dark hair falling from a high styled bun of sorts, her face was round, not unpleasant, plain really, and her eyes had wrinkles in the corners that suggested she was used to genuinely smiling and laughing a lot. Her dress was in a shade of darkish blue, a clean, simple round, high necked cut, her corset was weird looking and it made her waist a ridiculous shape, especially with her massive, err, bosom, and her sleeves where a pleated lace like material that billowed out and collected at her wrist. Oh the price of high fashion….

Still I suppose I passed inspection, even with my free flowing, unstylised hair, because she scurried towards me, her smile back in full beam.

"My Lady! How may I help you! Oh those dreadful carriages, are a complete terror for dust, I bet you want a new dress! Come, come, let's have some tea and have you cleaned up!"

I couldn't get a word in edge ways. She chattered at me the entire way to the wash stand in a back room and the whole time I washed my face and hands too! I had no idea what she was talking about, I had blocked out her incessant blabber from the third word after she began to lead me here to get clean. I just smiled and nodded where I felt it was appropriate. I must have done something right because she stopped talking after she had poured some tea.

Indicating I was to help myself to honey or lemon she started up conversation again.

"And so My Lady what kind of dress are you looking for, hmm?" she sipped from the delicately painted porcelain teacup.

"Uh, well I'm looking for a rather plain dress you see I'm..." I told her my story, editing out the part of my being the Princess, I doubt she would have believed me anyway, and the part about our King and the King I was being sold to. She looked interested.

Good.

When I had finished, her tea was untouched and most likely cold like mine and there was sheen of tears in her dark eyes. Honestly, I never knew I was that good at telling stories, there was usually a tonne of uh's, ah's, er's, em's and ...'s in between, but the content was alright I guessed.

She clapped her hands twice and her maid or assistant, I'm not sure which, came in and took the tray away. She was small, skinny, almost nervous looking creature, only about 13 I would imagine, her light brown hair in a tight low bun, she never looked up so I didn't see her face

"Yes, Doriko, the poor thing, an orphan, no matter how much she eats, she never gains an ounce…" she said shaking her head.

Getting back to matters at hand, she announced, "I will help you Lady..." she made some weird hand gestures at me, obviously wanting my name.

"Uh, Kag...no…um...Kagamiko?" Yeah, that works.

"Yes! This Misayo will help you reunite with your secret love..." Her eyes were all watery and sparkly...

"Oh thank you!... wait... Secret lover?" I faltered and scrunched my face in confusion, since when did I have a secret lover? Was he so secret, that even I didn't know about him?

"Yes, your tale of running away to be with a boy of a lower class, Oh what a tragedy love is! Being forced to marry an ugly old man, and then running off to be with a burly young stable boy..." Her cheeks were growing flushed. She's even dreamier than I am...

Ewwwww...

Anyway, I didn't correct her and I eventually got around to selling my dress. I earned two rather boring, non-silk, extremely drab dresses, but I guessed they would have to do, and even a small purse of coins. I reckon Ms. Misayo was so moved by my love story that she gave me a few extra coins to keep me going. I wasn't going to complain, though I will try to repay her kindness, someday.

I spent a while trying to get away from her, she just wouldn't stop talking at me, nice as she was.

I was absolutely starving.

I spied a few Inns on my way through that maze of a town but they all looked less than decent. Nearer the outskirts, there where more suitable taverns with more respectable looking clientele. I went in, sat down on the edge of a table near to a fire, my bundle beside me, and ordered a nice spicy lamb stew and a cup of wine.

Glancing around the room, I surveyed its occupants and decoration, the place was mostly filled with soldiers, judging by their simple uniform black trousers and red jacket clothing. They were playing dice in the corners, cards, or flirting with the waitresses.

One in particular was trying everything in a skirt.

I chuckled at the red hand imprint on his face.

There was a fair enough decor, stone walls, three giant long tables running the length of the main common, huge hearths with deliciously warm fires, heating the room in three of the walls, the walls, had game heads of deer and some other strange creatures, no doubt from a foreign merchant, and there where some paintings of unusual landscapes sparsely decorating the remaining stone.

Finally my stew arrived.

In all my years eating the finest foods available, I had not tasted a dish so delightful as the simple stew in front of me. It was sheer heaven. I got seconds, come on, who knew when my next meal was?

Half way through my third bowl the man with the hand print on his face sat down across from me.

He just sat there and grinned.

I stopped the spoon halfway to my mouth and glared across at him. As hard as I possibly could. How dare he interrupt me! I was like a possessive dog with a meaty bone...

"Oh no, my Lady, do keep eating, I can wait", his hands were up in a soothing gesture.

I kept eating.

He kept grinning.

It was becoming a irritating.

I did my best to ignore the idiot, and quickly finished my meal, drank the rest of my wine, patted my mouth with the cloth before levelling him with a nice icy glare.

"What?" I snapped. My grey eyes locking on his lilac ones. I was trying to see if I could melt or shatter him.

"Forgive me my Lady, but you have the most beautiful face I have ever seen..."

Both my eyebrows shot up as he took both my hands in his.

"Please allow me to read your fortune..."

I sighed, looking down at the table. What harm could it be?

He took out a deck of Tarot cards and began to shuffle like a veteran gambler...

"Forgive me, for I shall only do a short reading on you, as a longer one would keep my eyes from your beauty longer than I could bare..."

He lay three cards before me and labelled them, Past, Present and Future. He waggled his eyebrows. Probably thinking he was gonna get a kiss or something.

Not a snowballs chance in Hell. Who knew where he had been?

He lifted the first card, "The Past", it was the Five of Swords, Defeat, Failure, and loss. I had failed in my duty, and lost my life. I was defeated.

He cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Well the five of anything is lucky and has magic properties, and a sword is violence, yet it is also honour. Perhaps you are a good swordsman My Lady? Or have you won something lately?"

I nodded, humouring him, well, I didn't quite win...

He turned the second over. It was "Death". He gasped.

"Oh no my Lady, I fear your drink has been poisoned, we might not have much time, quickly now, to my room..."

I sighed, too lost in my thoughts to even hear what he had said properly, I did however hear that he thought I was going to die.

"Death doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to die, idiot, it means more, the death of something old, and the start of something new, like an old way of life and beginning anew. Don't worry, its pretty accurate about my present circumstances, go on..."

He looked at me warily. I rolled my eyes and looked back at the cards.

"I have a pack of Tarot in my bundle, I can read Tarot." I placed my chin in my left hand, waiting for him to finish and leave.

"Oh!" he seemed to brighten somewhat.

"My Lady, my I please ask your name?"

"Kagamiko", I replied boredly, the alias was permanent now.

"Lady Kagamiko, what a beautiful name, I'm sorry, but I am new to Tarot and beg your forgiveness."

He was about to turn over the last card, and reveal my "Future", something I was very interested in, since I can't read my own cards, but he took his hand back.

"Hey, what about my future?" I glanced shortly up at him

"Oh, I already know your future..." He again grasped my hands and tried to pull me closer to him over the table. The guy was obviously nuts, so I stayed rooted to my spot.

"Your future, Kagamiko, is bearing me a child."

I was about to bring the fading handprint back in full flare, when, suddenly beside the table was a man equally pissed.

"Oi, Miroku!" He practically barked.

"Yes my Lord?" he asked smoothly, never looking up and still holding onto my hands.

"Leave that bitch alone and go get ready, or I'll leave without you!"

Miroku sighed, squeezed my hands slightly and said; "Please excuse me, I must leave in order to go meet the King. I heard the Princess is quite lovely, but I doubt she could compare to your ravishing beauty."

I blanched at the mention of my family, and then blushed at the compliment, strange as it seemed, comparing myself to myself.

He kissed my hand. I needed soap, I didn't want to think about were he had touched with his mouth.

"...but I shall be back shortly after sunset, I'm in the last room on the left on the third floor..."

I was left wondering however, about why he was telling me were his room was...

"Uh, Lord Miroku, you flatter me greatly, but the Princess is far more beautiful than I could ever dream of being..." I was fishing.

A loud snort brought my attention to the "thing" that had so rudely interrupted, not that it wasn't welcome...

"Funny, I heard that the Princess wench was a right cow."

I fumed.

"Do not call our Princess a cow!" I stood up, throwing Miroku his hands back. My vision blurred red in outrage.

"She and her mother and sister are the fairest creatures in our land!" since when had I a huge ego?

"Whatever, I heard she was so ugly that her mother had to stick a bone in her mouth, just so the dog would play with her when she was small, and, that she tortured children. I'm just going over there to save the innocent children and end her family's misery." With that he turned and walked away, leaving me spluttering to think of a comeback and outraged to my core.

"Aaarrrggghhhh!" I stomped my feet, aswell as yelling for good measure. I looked around only to see Miroku coming down the stairs and heading towards the door, I never noticed him slip away.

"Hey, Lord Miroku, you forgot your Tarot cards!" He turned around and winked at me.

"Do not worry yourself, Petal; they were not mine to begin with." He continued on out the door.

Out of curiosity I went to the un-turned card and picked it up, It was stolen, the owners Aura, was already ruined.

My Future. The Devil. It meant unbreakable bonds. It meant Naraku. Those two things combined, where not good.

Not good at all.

I gathered my pack of things, paid for my meal and left.

When I arrived at the main road heading south, I stopped an elderly peasant woman. She smiled at me through her leathery and very wrinkled face.

"Yes that road goes south my girl...

There be just about three hours of sunlight left...

...your welcome child."

I smiled and waved back at her.

I dreaded this walk, I wasn't over weight, but I was very unfit, I was used to carriages, not walking long distances. And my new boots, courtesy of Misayo were very, very heavy.

I hoped my feet wouldn't fall off.

I modified chapter 1 slightly because I wanted Sango to have a bigger and better part, It's just the idea of her being a princess really bugged me...

Yes Kagome is supposed to be ditzy, just like she is in the start of the manga/anime, she'll eventually learn to gather her wits, after all, all she did in that castle was sit around all day, she's not going to be super observant or have any survivor skills, and she's also a fan-girl / gold-digger, a natural princess trait, well that's the vibe I got off her in the beginning of the series anyway.

I'd like to thank inu-angel1247, vashta and Jen, aff for reviewing, and anyone else that read this far!

vashta, did you assume the rider to be correct, if you did, I'm sorry, am I being to predictable?

Revised 1/1/05, why hasn't anyone told me about the horrible mistakes? I hope there's enough description now anyway -Gyousei

Review if you can, all feedback is welcomed!


	3. Ugh, effort

A/N: here's the third chap, a lot earlier than I had planned, but it's true what they say, reviews do make you update faster

edit I edited InuYasha's description of the castle, but I'm still not totally happy with it, sorry for putting it up again without a new chap, my mother said I was stressed and that I should do something I enjoy, so this was close, anyway, next update will be in approx two weeks give or take a day, because of my mock exams, catch ya then!

The ride through the forests wasn't as boring as I thought it was going to be, it was just the two of us, and the forest was beautiful, just like the idiot Miroku had commented, but I wasn't gonna agree, I just snorted as usual, a lack of interest is the fastest way to shut Miroku up, he likes the attention.

The idiot had a smirk plastered across his face ever since we left the Inn, and it was beginning to piss me off.

I was in the room next to him, I didn't want to be kept up all night. Again.

I just hoped he wasn't thinking of that miserable cow with the bad squawking habit. I shuddered to think what kinda foul screeches she'd make.

I can't believe I was just thinking that…

Distraction.

The lake really was as magnificent as everyone who saw it claimed it to be. I could see swans swimming across the clear blue water, it was almost magical.

There was a very peaceful atmosphere here. I'd learned to admire nature on all the recent travels my brother and I were contracted to by our father. Let's face it, what else is there to do on horseback all day? You think I was going to talk to Miroku?

I glanced back over at him again. He wasn't wearing a soldier's uniform today. He instead had black riding trousers and boots and a loose black shirt. A dark purple coat as well, with the belt and sword buckled over it. The coat was of a fine cut, he always liked to show his position off with finery. I normally just chucked on what the maids left for me.

He was still smiling.

"Oi! you better be on your best behaviour here, we don't want to be thrown out because you're skirting one of the hand maids." My eyes narrowed, remembering a similar incident in a Counts mansion on our journey over here.

"Oh, I promise you my Lord, I will keep my wandering hands to myself, hopefully." He placed his hand on his heart, mocking a promise.

"Sesshomaru will chop your hands off, just like he said he would after last time, you know he's good on his threats…" the idiot paled. Good.

"And I'll cut your dick off too, for good measure" he swallowed nervously.

"I assume this is a serious affair we are going to in the castle…?"

"Yeah, apparently, I don't know exactly what is up though, Father only mentioned to me to map out the land in my head, but Sesshomaru seems to have some interest in the royal family here. I'll tell ya when I find out don't worry." Miroku was a nosey bastard at the best of times.

He nodded.

We rounded a bend and got our first good glimpse of the castle. I could see the spires from the lake beyond the hill before, but now I was looking at it in full.

I was impressed.

Really impressed.

I swear it was the exact castle from the books my mother used to read fairytales from when I was small.

We were on a bridge over a small waterfall valley, the water crashing on the rocks beneath us. We had an excellent vantage point here to view the castle and countryside beyond it. The river valley below being the only flat land in the area, it was completely surrounded by mountains.

As soon as the breathtaking sight subsided from my conscience, the military part of my mind took over and I assessed the castle's offensive and defensive features. From what I could see at this angle the gate house, was orange, obviously brick. The building was located on a giant mound of rock, trees surrounding it, although the position was more for the sights from the castle, out onto the lake and mountains, than for having an advantage over invading enemies, so I was told.

The sumi-yagura or turrets as they call them here, where positioned at the front only, its not as if any army could attack from any other side anyway, what with the river acting as a moate of sorts on the other sides. A large square watch tower sticking up, with the family crest flags waving from a pole on its roof, again different to the way our castles were structured, but this wasn't a war castle.

There was nothing there that I would consider a tamon-yagura, bailey, or even a wall, it just looked like the donjon continued out up to the gate, although I could see what must be a court yard inside.

The main keep, was white with One, Two, Three…. Eight stories including the roof level, but I'd bet any amount that there where more carved out of the rock underneath, the roof tiles were a bluey/green colour, surprisingly enough, I had found something about this castle that wasn't unusual. The main house also had two towers, one larger, one smaller than the watch tower. Many small rounded bay and spire windows decorated the level before the roof began, much like the gables back home...

This place was huge, I had had to admit that, no matter how strange it seems.

Spectacular is the only way to describe it. I'd love to see it in autumn with the changing leaves. Mother would love it… Oh crap! I'm turning into a sap like Miroku here.

I kneed my stallion onwards; I wanted to get this visit over with as soon as possible. Looking at that small body of water, it made me think of home. The sea.

When we arrived at the front gatehouse, there only seemed to be one entrance/exit, unless it was hidden somewhere. I admired its construction while waiting for the doors to open.

It was different from anything else I'd ever seen before.

I'd seen a lot of castles, in many shapes and sizes, in many different countries. But this castle held a certain magic over it.

I glanced up at the royal insignia that was engraved at the pinnacle of the gatehouse arch. Two lions to each side of a crest, I could not make out the items that it supported, they must have been worn away by the elements. Above the crest was a balcony, it's a wonder this thing has battlements, this had been designed by an artist not a strategist after all, there where soldiers there, wearing white and forest green with their minimal leather armour, in the Higurashi family colours.

The heavy doors groaned as they revealed the inner courtyard. I was delighted to see the main house right in front of me, something I had always hated about home, the maze from the front gate to the donjon, but I knew it had a very good purpose, but it was still very annoying.

I sent Miroku off to see to the men that had arrived earlier with Sesshomaru.

Climbing the smooth stone slab stairs into the main house, I started to wander through the castle, admiring the dark wooden carvings, there wasn't a plain piece of wood in sight, paintings, portraits, numerous golden ornaments and crystal and gold chandeliers that hung everywhere I went.

I was eventually totally lost and decided to ask a servant for my brother. I was brought to a fifth floor reception room, lavishly decorated in the dark wood that seemed to cover the entire of the interior structure, the wall panels were a golden yellow colour to compliment the dark wood.

Sesshomaru was standing with his back towards me, hands folded behind him, looking out the window. He had taken off his coat and was just wearing his white shirt and tan riding pants, he insisted we wear something of the fashions the main continent had, so as not to scare anyone, seeing Fukushima soldiers passing through your town was like a declaration of war. We needed to appear peaceful, especially in the more defensively-challenged countries like the one we where in now.

I could see the lake out past his frame. I wondered if it reminded him off home like it did to me.

Nah, he hasn't a sentimental bone in his body.

I looked around the room, it was obviously regularly used. It had many portraits of the family and not a speck of dust. I wasn't used to there being so much lavish decoration; everything back home was simple and minimal.

My eyes ran over the paintings, taking in the cultural contrasts, waiting for Sesshomaru to at least say something.

My gaze landed on the family portrait set over the intricately carved fireplace, we didn't have fireplaces either.

It must have been years old, as it still had the old King in it, and both his parents, his mother dead years before him, his father, the present King, and his three children, they were very young, Souta the heir was only a toddler. The two girls looked like twins, only differentiating by height and eye colour, the shorter girl had grey, wait… those eyes are familiar…

Shit.

That bloody cow from the Inn was in the damn painting!

She couldn't be

Could she?

I looked around to some other paintings, she was in at least four more.

Don't tell me…

"I want you to retrieve the Princess, bring her back here."

I turned, pealing my wide eyed stare from the paintings, Sesshomaru still had his back to me facing out the window. Maybe the sentimental bone was there, instead of his funny bone.

"Huh?" was my only response to his request.

"You heard me InuYasha, I want you to go get the Princess."

"What? Why? Why me?" I moped; I didn't want to have to go after that stupid wench.

"As a Prince it is your duty, I'm requesting that you find her and bring her back here to her family."

I snorted. "You're a Prince too, why don't YOU find her?"

"Don't make me order you InuYasha. Do this simple task and I will name you my Lord General upon my crowning next spring." He was still facing out the window. He knew it would bother me eventually. He always knew.

"It sounds too simple. What's the catch?" I grew wary. I was talking to Sesshomaru here. I knew his tricks better than anyone else, considering they where all used on me anyway.

"There is no catch" he turned around, and walked over to the mantel piece, studying the design. "Why would there be a catch?"

He was trying to bait me into a fight, I knew it, just so he could prove to Father that I'm not worthy to be Lord General. Did I really want the position though?

"It just seems to be too easy, catch the Princess, drag her home, you name me head of your armies. Is Father trying to make you pick me or something?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest, tucking my hands into my opened shirt cuffs.

"No, Father would not do such a thing, you know that, he only asked me to think about a Lord General, I suppose he was thinking about you, but it is my choice and he knows that. I believe myself that you would be a capable General."

He picked up a strange figurine off the mantel, to give it further inspection, it was odd, even for here.

He looked up at me, eyebrow raised. "Do you not want this offer?"

I was beginning to think this was serious. I never in a million years would have guessed Sesshomaru to be asking me this.

"Umm, yeah I do, I guess…." I was stumped.

"You cannot guess, you either want it or you do not, I can think on someone else if you would prefer…" He placed the figure back in its place. He turned and replicated my cross armed stance. A sure sign he was interested in this discussion.

"Why me?" I asked in all seriousness. Why me indeed.

"I told you, I believe you are capable of it, you have commendable skills in both fighting and tactics, you communicate well with the men, and you are well respected by our people. I was made Lord General at 17 InuYasha, that is younger than you are now, you are well able for it, if I was able for it at 17."

Sesshomaru, complimenting me on my skills? Never!

Well we were both thought by our Father, and his skills got our family back on the throne…

"InuYasha, you have the experience of both mine and Father's bestowed upon you, you know you are ready for it. You know you want it."

"Wait, since when did YOU bestow your experiences on me?" He's trying to tease me, just so he can take it from me at the last moment.

He sighed. "Have I not told you my every story and adventure from before you were allowed to ride out with us? Have I not helped you to improve your sword stances and katas as a child? Have I not commented on your warfare tactics when there was a small mistake that might have cost us? I have tried to teach you, did you not learn?"

This was creepy.

He was right.

I always used to make him tell me stories after he came back from battles or treaties. We did brotherly bond crap even though we fought like, well, siblings.

"I want you to go find Kagome, even if you do not wish for the position as General."

"So, if I just drag that bitch back here by her hair, I get General?" I was beginning to get excited, maybe the bastard was serious after all.

"Don't drag her by her hair, tie her to the saddle or something, I want good relations with this country for the future, it would not do to bring their Princess back bald. Besides do you not think she's prettier with hair?" He arched a brow and a small smile playing upon his features.

Did he just attempt to be humorous?

Probably liked that wench or something equally as silly. Ewww.

I stuck my tongue out at the fireplace portrait that held her child likeness, rather unbecoming for a 20 year old prince… the door then opened to admit a small, greying old coot, err, I mean man…

"Your highness" Sesshomaru said and bowed.

I turned around and repeated exactly like my brother.

"No, no need to bow, I'm sorry you both have to visit in such a desperate time for the Kingdom. Come, you must both be hungry, we shall talk over dinner." He waved his arms at us trying to direct us to the door.

When neither of us moved, he looked back, obviously bewildered by our matching dead-pan faces.

"My brother has offered to search for the Princess, Your Highness." Sesshomaru stated "He feels duty bound to find her and return her to her rightful place."

The old man looked at me. Were they tears forming in his eyes?

"Thank you son, I'm honoured you hold my Granddaughters safety so high in your list of priorities." He then walked over and, hugged me of all things!

Sheesh, the things I must go through.

"I'll set out at dawn" I told the man that only reached my waist.

He walked out, near-skipping before us, no doubt joyed at the news that such an "experienced young fellow" would track his Gran-baby down. He had informed us that most his men either didn't know what she looked like, or weren't good enough to track, he offered them to me anyway.

I sighed.

At least I'd be away from these weirdo's for a few days. No-one can do anything right here.

Except build a really cool castle. Although, it was probably wasn't them that built it.

"Did you see her on the way to the castle?" Sesshomaru was behind me and trying out his creepy new technique of suddenly speaking in your ear. Father almost killed him when he tried it on him.

You just do not creep up on our Father. It's practically suicide. Though I must say, it was hilarious seeing him jump like that, unfortunately father hadn't a sword on him at the time...

I shook off the willys he gave me by doing that. "No, I saw her at the Inn, Miroku was hitting on her." Sesshomaru sighed. Contemplating actually chopping his hands off most likely.

"I passed her on the way here, you'll have no trouble in finding her, seems she is so dopey that she cannot even notice 20 men on horses riding toward her, she will undoubtedly stand out."

He walked on ahead of me and opened the door, "I was invited to stay here tonight, and you will go back to the Inn and bring the men out at Dawn from there. I shall expect you back for supper tomorrow night." He was about to walk out the door, when an after-thought hit him, "Oh, and mind her hair…"

I was officially scared by this Sesshomaru now. This was not Sesshomaru.

My feet were in bits.

I sat to the side of the large dust road heading south, it wasn't very dusty really, it was compacted by years of feet and rain, it was like solid stone.

Still I had to be a bit thankful for the leather boots though. My silk slippers never would have held out.

My legs stung and burned and begged me for rest.

I wasn't desperate enough to sleep under a hedge, yet, I had to keep going.

As I was walking, I tried to admire the sunset, the sky was a nice pinky colour and the sun was like the yellowy-orange of an egg yolk. But I couldn't, my legs were too busy trying to disconnect themselves from my body so they could go off and die in a ditch, making me concentrate on keeping them moving instead of the sun.

I had passed through two villages already, they were both so small, neither had any Inns, not that I wanted an Inn in those towns anyway.

Some passing peasants assured me the next town was bigger, with two Inns where I could stay.

I'm pretty sure they where laughing at me.

I stood out like a sore thumb, moaning and muttering to myself.

Not long after complete darkness I arrived in the town. There where two inns apparently, I just wanted the closest one.

"The Blue Turkey" it was, it even had a sign with a painted turkey and blue feathers outside.

I went in, it was fairly crowded. Smaller benches, for not more than eight people were arranged all over the decently sized room, in a different manner from the previous Inn.

It didn't matter, I only needed a bed. I was too tired to eat.

I walked over to a lady in a white apron, she was tall and very thin, she had greying black hair pulled up into a tight high bun. Her stern wrinkled face surveyed the room, I noticed she kept a keen eye on the drunks singing in the corner.

"Excuse me, I would like room please," I smiled weakly when her head snapped in my direction and she took in my wretched state. She snapped her fingers and a small, bouncy, heart-shape faced girl popped up beside her.

She directed the girl to bring me to a room and asked me if I would need supper. Her voice was squeaky, almost like a drawn out cats meow, not like my cat's of course; Buyo was a breathing hairy lump, we deemed a cat, which emitted strange grunting sounds as he rolled around.

I told her I didn't want supper and if I could have the closet room possible to this spot, and I set a wake up for a half hour before dawn.

I groaned on looking up at the stairs, but I smiled as the serving girl took my arm over her shoulder and helped me up them.

I tugged my dress over my head and lazily yanked my stockings off and leaving them all on the floor, then I just flopped on the bed, uncaring of lumps, asleep just as my body hit the mattress.

A/N: I revised the other two chapters because I was advised to use more description, before I didn't use much because I was told in other writings that I put in way too much detail, I hope I didn't put in too much for this, my description of the castle wasn't great I know, but I will be revising it soon and I'll be putting up reference pictures for things in the story later, but for anyone interested in searching a pic up of Kagomes castle it's Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria I'm using, (also known as sleeping beauty's castle in disneyland).

Sublimetrickster: Thank you ever so much for that constructive criticism, it was great, I'm a big fan of your Umezu artwork by the way! On the stuff about there being a blind spot over InuYasha and Miroku, there's a reason for that, as you said we see them when Kagome does, but she didn't actually see them properly, she only looked at Miroku's eyes and hand's, and InuYasha she was too busy screaming at with blurred vision to notice anything about him, there will be proper descriptions as Kagome sees them, or InuYasha, only really when something is seen for the first time in whoever's POV. Thanks a lot for reviewing and I hope you keep reading.

Interested Reader: Thank you for reading and being interested!

Vashta: Feel free to assume and tell me what you think, who knows what ideas those things might spark off. I'm glad you didn't expect Sess, you expected Inu right? I'll try to work in some more twists in future.

Thank you to everyone else that read!

Oh please read my new fic "Jailbirds", that's not shameless self promotion is it?

-Gyousei

Edited: 9/1/05.

Second Edit: 29/1/05


	4. Seven Silver!

Phew, mocks are just over, thankfully I'll never have to experience them again….. Chemistry was the biggest load of crap I've ever handed up…. I'm sure no-one cares about me, here's chapter four of Princess Adventures:

When my eyes cracked open, it was still completely dark in my room, the maid shaking me was different from last night, and I couldn't make out anything but her voice and her cold hands that had me by the shoulder.

When she opened the curtains to reveal the grey sky I hissed and dug further under the covers.

A few minutes later she was back and threatening me with a bucket of water over the bed, I peeped out from my comfy den and saw her holding a dull grey bucket with her other hand on her hip.

When she left with a promise of being back in 5 minutes, I rolled over and sat up on the edge of my bed.

My body was completely stiff, stretching it was such bliss, when my feet finally found the floor amid all my yawning, I winced slightly and groaned but kept moving, it was best not to think about it.

The warm water in the wash basin was welcome on my grimy face and hands, although the herbal soap smelled nice, the taste wasn't as delicious…

Getting dressed was a chore and not for the first time I wished I had been born a boy, they never had to suffer stockings and hip braces, shifts and back tie dresses…. Sigh.

I was wearing the same peach colour dress as yesterday, I felt my other CLEAN prettier purple dress would be better appreciated at where-ever I was heading to.

Leather boots tied and money counted, I headed downstairs hopeful of breakfast.

The girl from last night was there on a side bench sorting through a bundle of clothes as I entered to large kitchen. What seemed to be all the staff, were busy scrubbing dishes, floors, tabletops. Broths were being made and meats on spits in several of the giant hearths. The smells would be mouth watering in a few hours when actually cooked.

The mistress of the tavern came over to me, her clothes and hair as impeccable as last night. She sat me down at the table closest and poured me a cup of milk. It was still warm.

"Have a good sleep?" she asked a kind smile appearing on her face, her voice not grating on me so much now.

I smiled and nodded whilst gulping down my milk.

Some bread and cheese was also placed in front of me and the jug was left there.

"Help yourself, child." She then walked off to start giving orders for the day.

I refilled my wooden cup and started on my warm doughy bread, and looked around; I'd never been allowed in a kitchen before. The girl beside me was counting money now, a tied bundle beside her.

"What's your name?" I asked.

She looked up surprised, then smiled as I assumed she recognised me, "Chiwa, may I ask yours?"

"… Kagamiko."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 16."

I waited.

"Are you not going to ask mine?" I enquired after a few more minutes.

"No."

"Why not?" I felt insulted for some reason.

"Don't you know it's rude to ask a Lady's age….?"

She walked off, her long dark brown braid swinging behind her, leaving me sitting there like a fool with my mouth open.

She came back holding a coat and cloak, and began to put the coat on, covering her plain cream uniform waitress dress that proved her service here.

"Where are you going?"

She giggled, "You're full of questions!"

I rolled my eyes, "You've no idea how many times I've been told that…, so where you going?" I'd be damned if she'd get away from this conversation!

She smiled, showing off her lovely white teeth, very rare among common folk.

"I'm heading home, I work here for the money, I'm bringing them clothes and extra money to support the farm, is that alright?" she raised an eyebrow.

She was mocking me!

"Where do you live?" I asked before I could stop myself.

She laughed and shook her head, "About thirty miles south of here"

"Are you walking?" maybe I would have a walking partner... that is, if she didn't kill me for all the questions I'd ask…

"No, I can afford the carriage now."

A carriage? Why didn't I think of that?

"How much?"

She looked quite puzzled, with a bit of annoyance mixed throughout…

"Seven silver pieces..."

I choked on my milk, "What?"

Complete Rip-off!

"Why would you like to catch it too?" she was gathering her stuff up.

"Oh, yes please!" I had seven silver pieces; I'd probably regret giving them away so stupidly later…

"Well its here in a few minutes, so you'd better hurry up!" she was ready to leave right then.

I left very few crumbs on the table as I stuffed the remaining food in my mouth and ran upstairs to grab my things, ignoring the pain in my feet and legs. Quick as a flash I was downstairs again struggling to hold all my worldly possessions together.

Frantically scanning the kitchen and not seeing Chiwa; I dashed out what I hoped was the back door.

Two closets later I found the right door and Chiwa climbing into the carriage. I ran over huffing in exertion. The carriage was a boring black box, nothing like the pretty gold ones we have in the castle, which I was expecting for seven silver pieces…

She helped me by grabbing my stuff so I could climb in more easily

"Did you pay Mistress Yuno?"

Oh crap!

I begged the carriage driver to wait, but I doubted he understood between the gasps and all the wild pointing I was doing.

Back in the Inn I found Lady Yuno talking with a cook and I poured out money into my hand from my belt pouch.

She just stared at me as if I were crazy; though at that moment I probably was. I tried to give her the same speech I gave the carriage driver and she actually understood. She probably had seen similar things to that more often than she wished.

"Three silver" was all she said

I stood there. Just stood there. I could not believe how expensive that bloody coach was.

Anyway, I paid her, and gave her and the cook a hug, heaven only knows what possessed me to do that…and ran back out to my awaiting carriage.

Thankfully it was still there.

I plopped on the cloth seat puffing up dust and tried to catch my breath. Chiwa was on the opposite side of the cab laughing at me. I looked to my side and found my belongings wrapped neatly in… Chiwa's black cloak.

I looked back over at her. Regaining the method of speech;

"You can't mother me, I'm older than you!"

She laughed again.

"Well you sure don't act like it, you need me to mother you!"

I glared. It was all I could do.

"And besides, the cloak will keep you warm when walking. I'm sorry but, you look like you need it more than me…"

I grumbled which caused her to laugh more. I was nothing more than a clown to amuse her!

The carriage went over a particularly bumpy patch of road a few minutes later, making its only two occupants giggle whilst being thrown around like a sack of potatoes.

After another little while of silence, and some more time contemplating the countryside rolling past, I finally said, "Thank you"

She looked over from the other window and gave me the warmest smile I had seen from her all morning.

We sat in companionable quiet and when other passengers where picked up, I moved over to her side.

We'd whisper something silly every now and again trying to annoy the others in our carriage.

Some time around noon, I guessed from the sun, I heard a lot of neighing and hooves stamping and froze. My heart was pumping a mile a second and my insides were churning.

They couldn't have found me… NO! Not now!

There was a small chance it wasn't them, wait there was a bigger than small chance, I began to relax more, but promised I wouldn't completely until the riders passed.

The windows were covered by grey cloth curtains because Lady "Stick-up-the-butt" across from us, didn't want the sun tanning her skin; she was busy conversing about something or other with moustache man, our fellow travellers.

Through the small gap I saw Green and White on a rider passing by, the exact colours of our guards. I tensed and Chiwa squeezed my hand whispering "What's the matter?"

The carriage stopped.

The adrenaline gushing throughout me. I gave Chiwa a hug, told her I was never here and grabbed my stuff.

I creeped out the other side that lead off into the forest, there was only one soldier on my side, and he had his back toward me looking at the driver.

I crawled underneath the carriage itself, my bladder threatening to spill. I could hear my heart thumping in my ears, I felt it pounding in my throat.

I didn't want to go back.

I couldn't cry, lest they hear my sobs.

One of them got off his horse and walked to the carriage door and opened it. I held my breath.

The silence stretched for what seemed forever, he then excused his intrusion and went back to his horse.

They rode off and so did the carriage. I stayed there in a huddled ball in the middle off the road, stunned.

I looked around, shakily got up and walked over to the forest on the other side of the road and sank down behind a large oak tree.

I let out a long sigh of relief as reality caught up on me. I escaped.

I sat there for a while, composing myself, allowing some tears to travel my face.

I was numb, but free.

Eventually I got back on the road again, they had already passed so what danger was I in?

As I walked, I thought about what was ahead of me, maybe I could be a waitress or something. I'm educated so maybe a teacher… that would be nice.

There was an awful clacking and squeaking of wood behind me, followed by squawks and clucks. I turned only to see a very unsteady looking chicken cart heading towards me.

I moved aside to let him pass, but he stopped. Oh no…

"Woud ya lik a rid' ther littl' missay?"

I wasn't too enthusiastic about it….

"Umm… sure"

What am I doing?

I made to go around and climb on the front seat beside the not so pleasant smelling man only to see a pig in my coveted place.

"Oh, yeah hope ya do'n mind ridin' in't back, just littl' Kagome 'ere lik's to sit up fron'"

Little Kagome had a pretty red bow and was acting every bit the little princess she was…

"Oh, "Kagome", how charming…" I gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Yup, born, 'ere the same day as our lovelay princayss."

Little Kagome snorted in approval…

"I see…"

With that I went around the back and climbed on, moving around some cages so I'd have a place to sit and not fall off.

When the cart moved off again, every re-arrangement I made fell back on top of me.

Ewww

Ewww

Ewww

And Ewww!

I went outside just after dawn, I had told the men to be ready before then, but with the arrival of fifty men and horses my men were needed to assist the others…. Sigh.

None of them had any decent armour either, why did they even bother with soldiers in a Neutral country, and not give them armour?

It was beyond me.

My men wore light metal brest plates underneath their coats on the continent, and metal thigh and shin guards, as well as arm guards.

I was taking half of our original group, leaving ten with Sesshomaru.

When we were finally underway, I stopped them all in the town centre, creating many traffic delays, but who was I to care?

There were four roads each heading north, east, west, south, how original….

I did a few quick sums in my head and divided everyone up into three groups of fifteen and one of seventeen; the seventeen included me and Miroku. Miroku wasn't even a real solider so it was fair; he only dressed like one so people wouldn't single him out as an easy target. Despite that he was still an excellent fighter and more than a match for any of the idiots in this stupid country.

Five experienced men of mine were sacrificed to lead the idiots in their respective directions, but it was the only hope they had of not dying. I kept most my men with me.

My group took the road south; I was going to try Father's theory on people always heading south when running away. No matter who caught the wench, I was going to take the credit.

Everyone had orders to only travel for ten days then head back and split up as required. Ten days was more than enough time to figure out they were on the wrong road.

Around an hour before noon on the South road, our group meet a fork in the road; I split us up into a group of ten Greenies, my name for the other soldiers, and the remaining seven of us.

The ten Greenies where complaining about how they had none of my men on their team and I snorted and showed them the cow-hide map I was using.

"See here…" I pointed at the junction we were at, "I'm sending you on the longer road because, unless you think your Princess is stupid, she'll go the shorter one we're going on"

Some grumbled, but I told them to check every carriage and cart along the way, and if we found her, I'd send a rider ahead to tell them, otherwise we would meet in the town of Morioka later.

I knew from my travels on the way up here, that there was an excellent Inn on the shorter road, and I would very much like to re-acquaint myself with it…

The cart was, smelly, icky, noisy, yucky, itchy, scratchy, sticky, and just plain disgusting. I vowed never to ride one again, no matter the circumstances, as I waved off the farmer and Little Kagome.

"The cheek to name that spoiled, smelly pig after me…" I moaned. Such disrespect!

I tried in vain to rub off all the feather and chicken excrement from my dress. There was no helping the smell. It seemed also that my hair was growing hay by the amount I picked from it.

I'd never wanted a bath more in my life!

I was in a town called Morioka, and was now in search of somewhere cheap to spend the night.

I'd wasted too much money on that damn coach.

It was quite dark and I had taken to walking down the alleyways because they seemed safest…

I was down one such, when I came upon a crowd of men, I tried to hide in the shadows but abandoned that idea to hide behind a wooden garden fence instead as they moved further down the alley.

I was stuck to the wood, rigid with fear for the second time that day, I had seen the same solider uniforms from the castle on some of the men, others had red, I didn't know why.

I prayed none of them had seen me.

They stopped somewhere close to me on the other side of the fence; I tried to listen in on their conversation, all the while hoping I wouldn't make a sound to give me away.

"Where's the Lord?" one said.

"He is out scouting the city with some of his men, they will meet us back at the Inn later, and I presume you were not successful?" another said, but this one had a slightly slurred, more flowing accent, it sounded familiar too… but from where?

My eyes flew to the back door of the house, where a woman, whom I can only guess, was the owner, came out and began to scream and shout at me for trespassing.

I couldn't do a thing as she came towards me and yanked me roughly by my arm and pushed me out into the alley where I fell on my hands and knees. I heard my pack landing somewhere near me, and a few object hit off my hand as they rolled by.

The tears had blurred everything for me and I gave up and sobbed.

It was only when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder did I remember that others where in the alleyway with me.

Yay! An update! I was going to do this yesterday but my friend came over and we had a very lengthy discussion about "if the InuYasha characters where yu-gi-oh cards…" very interesting.

NeverEndingHeartbreak: wow, thank you, although I think I'm unworthy of a rating 1000000/1000000, sorry I couldn't update faster. I had exams. Blame them. I do.

Wj: thank you for reading and reviewing!

Please Update: yeah sorry about putting it up without an update, its just there's so much to edit and re-edit, even today I had to change a load of stuff in previous chapters, but thanks for the review!

Saru: thanks for reviewing

My Name Is Yet To Be Found: thanks for reviewing all three chapters! Your reviews made me want to read my story all over again, and thus letting me find more mistakes… I have a solution to the whole Naraku lover thing, anytime the word Naraku comes up you can replace it with the name, "Bob", he can be the bad guy instead so that way the things Naraku does won't be bad because "Bob" is doing it...

Please review! all feedback is very welcome!

Gyousei

Edited: 5/3/05


	5. Kagome Rennt!

I screwed my eyes shut, No, this couldn't be happening, no, no, no… please no!

"Are you alright?" came a …girl's voice? Huh? I don't remember seeing any women with them, but I can't be too certain either…

Daringly, I turned to look up, a girl with Dark hair and concerned eyes looked back, she was alone.

I turned to look down both ways in the ally. No Men.

Nothing.

It was just me and her.

"Umm are you ok?" she said again. Looking back at her, I gave her a weak smile, "yeah...yes, I think I'm alright now, Thank You…"

I sighed as my levels of adrenaline settled back to normal. Too many near-heart-attacks lately.

"Come on girl," her hand left my shoulder as she bent down to pick up a few of my petty items; I reached to gather the rest.

After safely tucking them back into my make-shift cloak/pack, she helped me up and I thanked her. She then, unusually enough, made a hand gesture for me to walk along with her like a gentleman. We walked along in silence until we came upon an Inn, three stories high, and in decent condition.

She opened the door to allow me inside first and told me to 'wait here', which was by the stairs, while she made her way over to the fat, balding Landlord and talked to him. The man then nodded and clicked his fingers and a serving maid scurried over, he talked quickly to her and she nodded and moved off somewhere. The girl came back over and cocked her head as if for me to follow her upstairs.

Sitting down on one of the beds in the twin room, it just occurred to me, 'what the hell am I doing here?' I didn't know the girl and for some reason I was sitting in a bedroom with her. At least she can't rape me or anything…

The girl sat across from me, "Hope you don't mind, but I figured it'd be cheaper for both of us if we shared a room, have you any money at all?" I nodded.

"Well then I won't have to pay for you, either way it's cheaper. I don't mean to be nosey but, are you sure your ok? Are you in some kind of trouble? Was it those men in the ally way before? Oh… and my name is Sango by the way..." the girl trailed off bashfully.

She'd seen the men, at least they weren't imagined.

"Uh, no I'm not in trouble, I'm just travelling south, I'm looking for work and I just wanted to see the sea…" I flushed, that sounded so stupid, "and I'm Kagamiko."

She looked at me a bit sceptical, but said, "I'm travelling south too if you'd like company."

I smiled, "sure, I'd like that."

Moments later, whilst we were undressing for bed, a maid popped in and left in Sango's things, seems she had another room, I gladly crawled into bed.

Next morning I awoke to a thundering crash coming from below. It was way too early to be a drunken fight…

I dressed quickly and made my way down stairs to where the racket was still continuing.

In the main common, the staff were working, cleaning and basically ignoring the strange sight of a woman in men's clothing holding someone in a headlock.

It was Sango, how I didn't notice last night, I don't know, she definitely stood out, with her long dark brown hair in a high pony-tail, men's black shirt, men's black trousers and presumably men's leather boots.

She had some unfortunate in an extremely awkward and painful looking headlock, his arms where also stuck in the hold along side his head.

She turned around and smiled, "Good morning!"

The unfortunates face also lighted up, "Ah, Good Morning fair Kagamiko!"

I jumped. That git again!

Sango looked startled, "You know him," she asked incredulous.

"Not really, he talked at me once, just some weirdo pervert…"

"Did he grope you too?" without waiting for an answer, she kneed him in the face. Ouch.

Disturbingly enough, the knee to the face didn't faze him and he looked up at Sango with an innocent face, how he managed it is a mystery.

"I must apologise most precious of all blossoms, but I can no longer play, could you please release me so I may once again attend to my soldierly duties?"

Soldier?

Oh crap! He was wearing one of those red coats aswell…

"Oi Miroku!" an angry growl accompanying it.

In the door way, stood a man, quickly glancing over the room before settling his death glare on Miroku. He was shorter than most of the men behind him and had long black hair, his skin was also slightly darker, Miroku was of a similar shade, his coat was red too, but a different cut. Now I thought of it, they stood out like sore thumbs here.

We all had lighter skin and the majority of people had fair or brown hair, Sango told me she wasn't from here so her dark hair wasn't that unusual to me now.

Granted my hair was black so I can't really say 'we', my siblings and I are extremely odd in that we got our unusual hair colouring from my mother, she was from one of the more tropical countries, which I guessed these where all from.

All the same, the man still looked familiar. Then it hit me, the guy on the horse looked like him! Their face shapes were kind of different, but the expression was the same, eyebrows drawn, pissed off glare, and a snobbish/disgusted with the world because it's not good enough for me demeanour about them.

"Get your face outta her chest and get moving we have work to do!" he yelled and marched off, soldiers following him.

Sango then promptly dropped the man and moved towards me, grabbing my arm, she smiled, "I'm hungry, let's get breakfast."

'Stupid Lecher… supposed to be looking for that stupid girl… dammit!'

The idiot then came up beside me and started apologising. I forgave him with a smack backside of his head…

I was walking back to the Inn we'd stayed at. We had been searching Inns since sunrise, those of which that weren't searched last night. The girl had obviously gone on ahead.

"Please say you at least entered that place with the intention of looking for her." I gave him a sideward glance. Innocent face my ass.

"Of course InuYasha-sama, but erm, I believe there is a teeny, tiny, little problem with that…"

"What the maids skirts get in your way?" I snapped back mockingly.

Miroku laughed hesitantly, "well no, sometimes yes, but," he put his hands up in a pacifying manner at my warning glare. My eyes were beginning to strain from all my glaring…

"you see, none of us here, except you, actually know what the Princess looks like, and I doubt she's stupid enough to answer to 'Lady Princess Kagome' to a bunch of soldiers if she's run away, so… how are we to conduct this search without that vital piece of knowledge?"

I sighed, bouzu had a point. I knew I should have swiped one of those weird portrait things. Ah well…

"She looks like… She is rather, remember that girl back in the Inn we stayed at before we left for the castle, the one that squawked"

"Ah, you mean Kagamiko, why that was her back there with that beauteous warrior maiden"

What?

I stopped and grabbed Miroku by the collar, pushing him up against a nearby wall.

"What the fuck?" I didn't know weather to be shocked or angry.

"Why didn't I notice her? Bitch! Your fucking right, it just didn't click…"

Mercilessly letting him fall to the ground, I whirled around, "Adaru, we have her, get the men."

After our small but tasty bowls of porridge, loaded with honey I might add, we headed up to our room to pack our things and head out.

I was still laughing at all the stories Sango had of other men trying to grope her, and they're demise. Girl is dangerous.

"I just realised now how weird it was me bringing you here…"

Suddenly, below us, there was a large crash, like a slamming of the large wooden door followed instantly by jumbled yelling, whomever it was yelling; they sounded extremely annoyed.

The memory of the soldiers jerked me back to reality. How stupid of me to forget them. It was beyond stupid really.

In confusion and out of curiosity, Sango went over to the door and opened it to catch some of the shouting. Sounded like orders…

"I want this entire fucking place turned over, that Princess is going home tonight!" bellowed a voice.

Sango looked over at me, confused but laughing at the strange orders… "Can you believe…"

She stopped short at my no doubt very pale face.

"I lied, I am in trouble, Sango help me!" my plea ended in a yell and tears instantly poured out from my eyes.

Loud footsteps in the direction of the stairs reached us and she glanced about, hopefully she'd help me.

Making up her mind, she grabbed my arm and pushed my pack into my chest. Grabbing her own bag, Sango had her own stuff in a nice little leather bag, she moved to the window and pulled it open, climbing out.

I just looked at her.

Her frantic waving brought me back to my senses and I too climbed out after her.

We clung onto a trellis covered in ivy, there was an extended room a few feet below, (must be the kitchen), and we jumped down onto its roof.

Reaching the end of the extension, Sango jumped down and said she'd catch me. True to her word she did, with a little bit of wobbly footwork, she put me down again. Girl is strong.

Looking back up at the open window, we both froze as that guy from the door spotted us and screamed bloody murder at the other soldiers.

Sango grabbed onto my hand and we ran through the gate leading into a garden, going out the side entrance of the Inn would be a given I guess.

Several more private gardens and we came into a dyeing workshop. Bolts of wet, colour dripping fabric hung from lines above us. We kept running, constantly being splattered by droplets of varying colour.

The place smelled dreadful. My nose stung from the colouring agents. We kept running.

Exiting the dyeing yard and round a corner was a hay cart.

The driver was arguing with some marketer to get out of his way, so we took the opportunity to dive into the huge pile of hay.

Digging myself in, I found a bare leg, which giggled when I touched it.

Swimming up I found it was in fact two young lovers looking for privacy, and we had interrupted.

Turning towards me, the boy looked at me, double taked, and before a word could be said, he had a hand over his mouth. Sango's hand.

Taking the initiative I placed mine over the girl's mouth, just in case.

Sango's head made an appearance, and threatened in whispers, instant death upon any kind of noise, intentional or otherwise.

The two tried to straighten their dishevelled clothing and we all sat in silence for what seemed to be hours.

Sango occasionally peeked out, informing us that we were moving at a decent pace.

Finally she decided it would be safe enough for us to hop out, and we did, and to my amusement, she didn't even say sorry to the pair.

We hopped out, into a forested area.

"Ok we're going to climb a tree and hide out until the rider's pass us out. Quickly now."

She climbed up first and I threw the packs up to her, she then pulled me up, when we both discovered, I couldn't climb trees to save my life, which ironically, was exactly what we were doing.

Finally sitting in a position were I wasn't being molested by tree branches, I thought to ask, "Why haven't they passed us yet, and how do you know that they've even coming this way?"

She looked over, slightly worried, "I don't know why that haven't passed, they must have had trouble, and they have to come this way, there's only two roads, north and south, and I know this isn't the north road because I came in that way… sssh" an she held her finger against her lips.

We could hear the galloping of horses coming closer, took them long enough, how could they not beat a hay cart?

As they passed underneath us, I could feel the tree vibrate, it felt funny.

When I looked over, after they'd gone, I watched as Sango suddenly swung upside-down, watching them vanish probably.

She said it would be safest if we waited a while longer before climbing down and walking on.

A/N: I can't believe it took me so long to do this, I'm very very very very sorry.

Thanks to: Kid , fire, My Name is Yet to be Found, dralan, and Kags14, after much discussion, we decided your review was a good one, it confused me a bit… whoops

Anyway please review and I'll try get the next chapter up sooner ;


	6. Authors Note

-

I regret to inform the few readers I have on this site that I am in fact moving. If you wish to continue reading my stories you will find them on mediaminer . org or adult fanfiction . net under the same pen name.

My reasons for leaving are because this site just keeps getting worse and worse, the last thing to thick me off was that my codes were not being accepted, so I decided to uproot and go elsewhere where my codes were accepted.

Sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused my small number of readers.

Thank you.

Gyousei


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